Driver assistance systems include functions which assist the driver of a vehicle in his driving tasks. The aim of such systems is often to increase road safety by avoiding hazardous situations which can lead to accidents. Other goals are to increase comfort by relieving the driver as well as easier orientation by providing information on the surroundings which is processed depending on the specific situation and presented in a way which is suitable for the driver, such as is known, for example, for assistance systems including traffic sign recognition and/or lane detection or roadway marking detection.
Traffic sign recognition methods or roadway marking detection methods sense the surroundings in front of, next to or behind the vehicle by means of a camera, analyze the recorded image data and detect, in the image data, the presence of specific traffic signs or roadway markings of the lane the vehicle is in and possibly of neighboring lanes as well as the position of the vehicle relative to these roadway markings. This traffic sign and/or lane information can be used within a driver assistance system to warn the driver of overspeeding and/or of a lane departure or to decelerate the vehicle and/or keep it in its lane by means of intervening with the longitudinal and/or lateral control of the vehicle.
From DE 10 2006 007 550 A1, which is incorporated by reference, a driver assistance system including a method for detecting roadway markings is known, which determines the relative position of the vehicle in relation to the sensed roadway markings and warns the driver in the event that the roadway marking is crossed unintentionally. In this known method, especially the front areas of the vehicle and the lateral areas of the roadway or the lane are sensed.